The method,
however, by which ataraxia or peace of mind could be reached,
was peculiar to the Sceptic. It is a state of psychological
equilibrium, which results from the equality of the weight of
different arguments that are opposed to each other, and the
consequent impossibility of affirming in regard to either one,
that it is correct.[2] The discovery of ataraxia was, in the
first instance, apparently accidental, for while the Sceptic
withheld his opinion, unable to decide what things were true,
and what things were false, ataraxia fortunately followed.[3]
After he had begun to philosophize, with a desire to
discriminate in regard to ideas, and to separate the true from
the false[4] during the time of [Greek: epoche], or suspension
of judgement, ataraxia followed as if by chance, as the shadow
follows the body.[5]
[1] _Hyp._ I. 25.
[2] _Hyp._ I. 26.
[3] _Hyp._ I. 26.
[4] Diog. IX. 11, 107.
[5] _Hyp._ I. 29.
The Sceptic in seeking ataraxia in the things of opinion, does
not entirely escape from suffering from his sensations. He is
not wholly undisturbed, for he is sometimes cold and hungry, and
so on.[1] He claims, nevertheless, that he suffers less than the
dogmatist, who is beset with two kinds of suffering, one from
the feelings themselves, and also from the conviction that they
are by nature an evil.[2] To the Sceptic nothing is in itself
either an evil or a good, and so he thinks that "he escapes from
difficulties easier.
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